Fortune » Sudan - Fortunehttp://fortune.com
Fortune 500 Daily & Breaking Business NewsMon, 03 Aug 2015 00:28:44 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/dab01945b542bffb69b4f700d7a35f8f?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png » Sudan - Fortunehttp://fortune.com
Fortunehttps://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/fortune/assets/images/fortunelogo.pnghttp://fortune.com25040Will this French bank foot the bill for Sudanese terrorism?http://fortune.com/2015/06/15/french-bank-terrorism/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/15/french-bank-terrorism/#commentsMon, 15 Jun 2015 14:34:43 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1175581]]>Governments in the U.S. and Europe have cracked down on bad behavior at big banks in recent years, and it has raised some interesting questions about how best to mete out justice to large corporations.

Penalizing banks for offenses such as market rigging, encouraging risky lending, or abetting money laundering terrorists and drug dealers comes in the form of big fines. But where should that money go once governments take it from bank shareholders?

According to a report Monday in The Wall Street Journal, victims of terrorist attacks like the 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania an Kenya say they should get a cut. Back in 2011, a federal judge ruled that the governments of Iran and Sudan were partially responsible for those attacks, and awarded victims $8.7 billion in damages. That money has thus far gone unrecovered because those governments keep few assets in the United States, the Journal said.

In a filing with the Justice Department and Manhattan U.S. attorney's office last December, the lawyers petitioned for $2.5 billion and argued the bombings could be considered a "related offense" to BNP's illegal conduct because the bank helped Sudan facilitate billions of dollars in illegal transactions. Last year's charges against BNP detailed the bank's efforts to conceal its work on behalf of Sudanese banks, including moving U.S. dollars out of Sudan without reference to the Sudanese firms.

With the Justice Department and other regulators increasingly flexing their regulatory muscles these days -- in part as a response to public outcry for financial firms to be punished for financial crisis-related shenanigans -- expect to hear about more debates over how money extracted from offending banks is spent.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/15/french-bank-terrorism/feed/1BNP Paribas HQchristopherrmatthewsCommerzbank seen next in line to settle for violating sanctionshttp://fortune.com/2014/07/08/commerzbank-seen-next-in-line-to-settle-for-violating-sanctions/
http://fortune.com/2014/07/08/commerzbank-seen-next-in-line-to-settle-for-violating-sanctions/#commentsTue, 08 Jul 2014 09:36:45 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=740451]]>Germany’s second-largest bank, Commerzbank AG, is likely to be the next European bank to settle accusations that it violated U.S. sanctions, according to the New York Times.

The paper said the bank will pay “at least $500 million”, most likely under a deferred prosecution agreement allowing it to avoid facing criminal charges.

It’s only a week since the Justice Department and New York’s Department of Financial Services extracted a record $8.9 billion penalty from France’s largest bank, BNP Paribas BNPQY, for using the U.S. financial system to bankroll the governments of Iran, Sudan and Cuba, in violation of U.S. sanctions.

With that precedent set, officials expect other European banks to follow suit and settle in the coming weeks. In Commerzbank’s case, the investigations relate to Myanmar and North Korea, in addition to Iran, Sudan and Cuba, according to its annual report.

The NYT’s estimate of “at least $500 million” puts the likely settlement within the bank’s comfort zone–it has already set aside EUR982 million ($1.33 billion) in provisions against legal risks. By contrast, BNP’s fine was over six times what it had set aside.

That might reduce the risk of the case becoming another political hot potato. Unlike the BNP case, the German state is a minority shareholder in Commerzbank with a stake of 17%, having bailed out the bank during the financial crisis. U.S.-German relations are already under strain following new allegations of spying by the C.I.A. on German lawmakers.

Nobody at Commerzbank was immediately available to comment on the report.

Commerzbank’s shares were down 3.7% in early trading Tuesday in Frankfurt in reaction to the news.